1923-09-20 Mickey Walker nd-w rsc 8 (10) Bobby Green, The Coliseum, Davenport, Iowa, USA - NBA. Referee: Slim Brennan. Reported in the Davenport Democrat as a billed 147lbs title fight with both men inside the weight, Walker won every round by a margin that left no doubt of his superiority. Right from the opening bell the game Green was punished from head to body as the champion worked him over, and in the seventh the game youngster took a count of six after being dumped by a left to the jaw. In the next session, with Green under a sustained body attack and not fighting back, the referee came to his rescue.

Later, on 8 October at Dreamland Park, Newark, New Jersey, Walker (148lbs) and Jimmy Jones (145¼lbs) were thrown out before the start of the tenth round of a scheduled 12 for not trying. And, just to add insult to injury, it was New Jersey’s Chief Inspector, Platt Adams, who ordered the referee to halt the contest. It did not stop there, however. On 10 October, Walker was suspended for a year by the New Jersey Commission and the following day the NYSAC rescinded Jones’ title claim. Earlier, Jones had been warned by the NYSAC that he risked indefinite suspension if he went ahead with the fight against a man already serving one, a decision which would have undoubtedly been upheld by Massachusetts, who had a close working relationship with the New York authority.

Following this, on 26 October at Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, NYC, New York, Dave Shade outpointed Wells over 15 rounds in an effort to reclaim the support of the NYSAC (some reports even give it as a NY title fight), but a day later the Commission held a special meeting and Walker was reinstated as champion, even though he would remain suspended in New York until April 1925.

The upshot of the special meeting was that in future the Commission would no longer make champions by proclamation when existing champions failed to make defences within the stipulated period, but would merely place them under suspension until such time they co-operated.